


lend a helping hand

by aubadezayn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Fingering, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mutual Pining, Omega Keith, Omega Verse, Platonic Sex, Safe Sane and Consensual, Temporarily Unrequited Love, a lil bit, alpha shiro, or so they think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:55:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8356081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aubadezayn/pseuds/aubadezayn
Summary: ((i'm sorry for that title omg))omega!keith is about to go into his first heat since having left earth, and there's a distinct lack of sex toys/aids in space so alpha!shiro offers his totally "platonic" assistance. his hand vibrates, who knows why? it does though, and he's going to help keith get through the week with minimal pain because that's what friends are for right?or omega!keith and alpha!shiro pine after each other desperately and are oblivious to the other's desire for them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> u could find me on tumblr at @kiefersutherlnd
> 
> part 2 be out soon

“It wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”

 

“How do you know that?! You just admitted you can’t even remember your last one, Keith!” Allura shouts, hands flying between waving wildly in the air and tearing at her hair. They’re in her private quarters, since this is a _private_ conversation, but by her shouting the whole damn universe has probably heard Keith is about to go into heat.

 

When he got the first warning signs he’d honestly been kind of shocked, he really couldn’t remember the last time he went into heat. It was definitely before they were flung into space, that’s for certain, but it also seemed like when he was much younger. He remembers being only vaguely into the idea of mating the last time, which could be anywhere from 12 to 14 for him.

 

The warnings came on fast, with the hot flashes, and the overly sexual dreams, and…the slick. One day he was totally fine and kicking Galran ass, and the next he was dreaming of faceless alphas and _dripping_.

 

“I just mean that…if we were _home_ , I’d have my suppressants.” Keith snapped, the long run argument about their return to Earth on it’s second year now, and no less frustrating. “But since I’m here, we need to make preparations. We won’t be able to form Voltron for at most a week, at least three days. I’ll need provisions, water, food, a closed private room preferably far away from the others, and…”

 

Allura’s at least taking it seriously, and writing all the things he says down on a piece of paper, which is why he hesitates on the last thing he needs for heat-week.

 

“And?” She prompts him gently, seeming to sense his hesitation.

 

“Toys.” Keith mutters, arms crossed defensively.

 

“What?”

 

“Toys!” He snaps, curling inwardly to try to hide the sudden rush of blood to his cheeks. “If you want me to survive the damn week, I need some _help_. If you catch my drift, Allura.”

 

He feels much better when a pink-purple flush lights up Allura’s own startled face, and she gasps. “Oh!”

 

“Oh!” She says again, looking down at her notes. “Well, we don’t have- uh at least, I wouldn’t – maybe Coran, um-“ She coughs, tapping her chin with her pen and then straightening up with a determined expression.

 

“I will…find you something, Keith. I promise you, we’ll get you through this.” Allura stands up and comes closer, her small hand resting on Keith’s shoulder in an almost maternally soft way. “It’s going to be okay.”

 

Any number of snarky comments fell away, and Keith just nodded, and let her be comforting.

 

* * *

 

The heat is an omega’s-only “gift”, that Keith never wanted. To him, it had always seemed like a punishment more than anything, a hassle. A complication.

 

Scientifically it’s the week where an omega is most fertile, most likely to find an Alpha, secreting the most pheromones. For women, it’s the week where they’re most likely to become pregnant, and it’s far more regular and frequent than male omegas’. Unlike Keith though, even most male omegas’ have heats twice a year or more, with regular intervals of time in between.

 

Keith’s had three since he turned 13. The first one was brutal, and alarming, and almost violating – his body turning itself inside out to please some primitive breeding ritual. The first heat is _never_ meant to be consummated. Omega’s are too young when the first heat hits, their bodies preparing early for maturity to come.

 

Keith was too young. He tries to forget that first heat as much as possible.

 

The second heat happened after he was expelled from the academy. He had no one, nothing but the mountains and the mysteries and himself. He suffered through with his fingers, and makeshift toys, and it only lasted four days.

 

After it was over, he pretended it hadn’t happened.

 

The third was almost a fluke. It lasted one day, a year into their stay in space. Keith pretends that one didn’t happen, too. No one else knows that it did. He just jerked his way through a private day in his room, and avoided everyone.

 

This one, though. There’s something in his blood screaming, this one is serious. This one won’t be short, this one can’t be unfulfilled. This heat is already refusing to be forgotten, and it hasn’t begun.

 

* * *

 

Keith’s laying down reading about Galra in one of Coran’s books when he feels the first flames in his lower stomach. The heat is well named, and once that burn starts it’ll keep building and building till it’s satisfied.

 

He’s off the bed and out the door immediately, running past Pidge in the hallway. “Hey, Keith!” No time for words, Keith throws them a hasty wave and rushes on, cheeks hot. Why this had to happen now, here of all places, is a mystery Keith will never understand.

 

Allura’s quarters are empty when he staggers into them. “Fuck!” He curses, running out and towards the training center. The team wouldn’t be there during this time of day, but maybe Allura is.

 

When he finally rounds the corner, he breathes a sigh of relief. She’s one-on-one training with Shiro, hair pulled tight and serious to her head, and eyes never leaving his fellow paladin. Keith bursts in through the door, breaking her and Shiro’s tense concentration.

 

“Keith? Are things-“

 

“Everything’s fine. Everyone’s fine.” Keith states firmly at the panic in her eyes. Shiro relaxes visibly, lowering his bayard to his side. “I need a moment with Allura, please.”

 

“We were training-“ Allura starts, gesturing towards Shiro as if Keith had missed the tall, broad and striking man next to her.

 

“It’s _important_ , Allura.” He tried to avoid giving away any suggestion of what he might mean by keeping his face as passive as possible. Shiro’s eyes squint with suspicion but he holds his hand up to Allura when she goes to speak.

 

“It’s fine, we can continue later.” Shiro pats Keith on the shoulder as he passes, in a friendly way, but it sends sparks of heat through Keith that make him go slicker than he already is. Shiro’s touch, never unwelcome, raises a response that Keith _can’t_ want. Can’t even consider.

 

~~He cannot consider the fact that Shiro is an Alpha.~~

“No, it is not fine, Shiro, you stay.” Allura physically stops Shiro from leaving with a hand on his wrist, the flesh one, though he looks reluctant to do so. “Keith, what’s wrong?”

 

“It’s here.” He said plainly, and with more than a little annoyance in his voice. His body temperature was rising with each passing second, and just being in Shiro’s presence, with the Alpha pheromones calling his name, was difficult.

 

“What is?” Shiro asks, still in fight mode with his bayard raised.

 

“Oh no.” Allura gasps, hand going to her mouth. “Keith, we need to get you to your room, I’ve already prepared your provisions, though…”

 

“You didn’t find anything?!” The first couple days would be mostly okay, with just his hands to satisfy him, but the rest of the week would be brutal.

 

“It’s not exactly something we have lined up, Keith.” Allura sighed. “You’ll just have to make due by yourself-“

 

“What’s going on?” Shiro asks again, more firmly this time. It’s the last straw on Keith’s already full back.

 

“I’m going into heat in about ten minutes.” Keith snaps, arms crossed petulantly across his chest. “And guess who doesn’t have an Alpha? Or a fucking _dildo_?”

 

Allura’s mouth falls open, and she shakes her head looking up to the ceiling. Shiro’s face barely changes, but a bright pink spreads into his cheeks. “Oh.” He says, the least eloquent statement to ever fall from Shiro’s mouth.

 

“Keith, please, let’s just-“

 

“I could help.”

 

Keith chokes on his own spit in his haste to stutter out “What?!”.

 

Shiro shrugs, though it looks anything but casual added to the strained expression on his face. “My hand vibrates…I don’t really know why, but it does. That would help right?”

 

“Oh!” Allura’s cheeks are flushed, but she has a wide smile anyway. “That’s a great solution!”

 

“Great? Solution?” Keith says through gritted teeth. Shiro, the bane of his existence, finger fucking him for a week?  That was not a great solution, that was a catastrophe, that was a sitcom.

 

“It could be completely platonic, no…mating, no touching, just… _helping_.” It sounds like it physically pains Shiro to keep talking, but the more he says, and the more Keith’s heat rolls in, the more convincing the argument is.

 

“I…” Keith starts, trailing off.

 

“It’s the only option we have, Keith.” Allura says gently, and logically.

 

A week of misery and pain? Or a week of pleasure, even if it is “platonic”, with Shiro?

 

“You’d be able to control yourself?” Keith asks suspiciously. Shiro losing control during this heat week wouldn’t be the first example of Alpha’s who can’t hold back the need to rut.

 

“Absolutely.” Shiro swears solemnly, and though all that happens is Allura ushering them out of the room to gather provisions for the week, it feels like a handshake.


	2. worth the wait

“So…” Shiro starts when they’re alone in the massive suite across the palace Allura had set up for them. He trails off, arms crossed and looking down at the floor. His scar is the only white part of his face, on top of a dark pink blush.

 

Keith can’t keep standing though it kills him to even acknowledge the bed in the room, and he collapses down onto it’s edge. He rolls his neck, the tension of oncoming heat making his skin feel too tight and stretched. He’s starting to sweat through his clothes, and he knows the peak is coming soon.

 

He’s dripping slick, and every impulse in his body is telling him to strip and present. There’s an _Alpha_ in the room, he should be on his knees by now.

 

The still rational, human part of himself fights against the urge and he drops his head down between his knees where he can’t see Shiro.

 

“Keith-“

 

“Shh, just-“ Keith holds a hand up to stop Shiro from talking, nerves raw from the deep sound of his voice. He’s pushing his body farther than he should, if he were alone he’d have been naked an hour ago but with Shiro here it seems inappropriate. No matter how badly he needs Shiro, admires him, _wants_ him Keith has kept Shiro firmly in the friend and teammate sphere, and you don’t whip out your dick in the friend sphere.

 

“Keith you’re sweating.” Shiro says, speaking over Keith’s forced pause. With a stilted, awkwardly casual motion Shiro slides past Keith to sit on the bed next to him. “You should…take your jacket off.”

 

It might be because Shiro’s an Alpha, it might be because he’s their leader, but Keith nods and pulls it off in several jerky motions. Cool air on his arms is immediately relieving, and he sighs, running a hand hard over the back of his neck, under his hair where his sweat has pooled.

 

“Feel a little better?” Shiro’s voice is husky, and Keith finally looks at his friend. His pupils are blown, just a little bit, just a taste of the ferocity to come. Both their breathing has become more shallow, like their proximity has lessened the oxygen in the room.

 

“You know that’s not how it works.” Keith accuses gently, hand shifting on the mattress as he fights not to touch Shiro. He wants to, he can admit that. He wants to strip all that leather off of Shiro and devour him. He wants to leave no corner of Shiro’s skin untouched and unkissed, and he wants them to both be dazed and heat-heavy by the end of it. If he’s being really honest, he wants even more than that.

 

He wants Shiro to kiss him with love, and he wants him to ask if he’s okay, if it hurts. He wants to be taken care of, for once.

 

Shiro’s hand falls on top of his and clutchs tight. “Keith…”

 

“Yeah?” Keith huffs, the word barely formed on his lips as he moves even closer to Shiro. He feels drawn in, unable to stop, gravitating towards him like a lesser moon.

 

“I can smell you.” The words roll off Shiro’s tongue like gravel, somewhere between a growl and a purr, and it sends a shiver down Keith’s spine.

 

In the spirit of _trying_ to keep this platonic, scientific even, Keith’s mouth forms the words “What do I smell like?” without thinking about the consequences. It’s like an avalanche. The first sign is Shiro’s pupils expanding till his eyes are almost black, the second is how Keith is suddenly pressed back into the mattress underneath him. Shiro hovers over him like a predator, eyes blown and dark, shoulders broad and dominating. He leans in towards Keith’s neck and shoulder area, holding himself just high enough that they don’t touch, but that Keith is vividly aware of every line of Shiro’s body.

 

“You smell like _sex._ Pure, explicit sex dripping out of you, just…waiting for me.” His voice grows more pained with each word, till Shiro’s practically panting in Keith’s ear.

 

“What else?” Keith asks, palms pressed flat to the mattress so as not to grab on and never let go. He can smell the lust coming off of Shiro and it’s making him a little crazy. His body is wet and ready, and there’s a huge willing Alpha hovering over him. Everything in him says to claim him, and be claimed in return.

 

“Home.” Shiro whispers, so quietly Keith almost misses it. Then louder, when Shiro pulls away to kneel on either side of Keith’s hips, he says “You should strip. You’re in heat fully now.”

 

It’s true, Keith can feel it from his toes to his forehead. His limbs are languid and tired, but vibrating with energy at the same time. He’s dripping wet, and under his pants and underwear he’s been nearly rock hard since they entered the room. “Could you…?” He’s too proud to admit verbally that he needs Shiro to take them off, he needs Shiro’s hands on him everywhere and this way he gets that without stepping too far over the line.

 

The last thing he needs is to drive Shiro away before even one day is over.

 

His mind is splitting apart, and he’s barely down his boots and shirt. Shiro had taken care to stroke his ankles and calves while removing his boots, and massage his feet while removing his socks. He’d also made sure to barely brush Keith’s nipples when running the shirt over his head. It was torture, it was heaven, it was turning Keith inside out with lust.

 

“Please, Shiro.” He moans quietly when Shiro finally pops open the two buttons on his pants. The sound of the zipper slowly being pulled down made his dick jerk, and his skin shiver. His body aches to be filled, he needs something – Shiro’s fingers, or his cock, or anything. His mind stumbles over the idea of Shiro’s _tongue_ inside him and he nearly cums right there and then.

 

“I’ve got you.” Shiro reassures him softly, hands running over Keith’s thighs as he removes the tight pants. Keith realizes as cool air runs over his over heated thighs that Shiro is still fully dressed, and how absolutely vulnerable it makes him feel. He’s laid out, barely in control of his pheromones and his body, and he needs Shiro to be at least a little bit on his level.

 

“Sh-Shiro,” Keith shakes with the force of trying to create a meaningful sentence during the teasingly gentle touches of hands undressing him. Shiro pauses, hesitating on his brief’s waistline. Shiro’s eyes drop to Keith’s dick, which is pitching quite the impressive tent, and then back to his face abruptly.

 

“Do you want to stop?” Shiro asks seriously, looking ready to pull back at any moment.

 

“No!” Keith shouts, sitting up and nearly banging their heads together embarrassingly. “No,” He can’t help it, he rubs his hands nervously on Shiro’s shoulders, feeling the fabric and the firm muscle underneath. His hands move up to cup Shiro’s jawline, in a probably way-past-platonic sort of way but he can’t be bothered to care. He needs to see him, he has to touch him, he wants Shiro more than just as a heatmate.

 

But he holds back, and with shaky hands makes himself hold Shiro at arms length still, even though he wants straddle and ride him till they’re both screaming.

 

“I need you to take some stuff off. I can’t be the only person naked right now.” Shiro nods dazedly, and shakes his head up and down. Keith’s hands slide down to gingerly touch Shiro’s shirt hem, lifting it just enough to see a dark line of hair and some scars. The scars are a stark white against his skin, and look so newly healed Keith’s stomach jumps. He knows they’re old, but it doesn’t stop him from wanting to lather them in kisses.

 

Shiro gets the hint and leans back from Keith enough to pull the shirt over his head, muscles flexing deliciously as he does so. Keith’s thighs tremble embarrassingly as his body’s temperature spikes, and the needs grows to unsafe proportions. He’s drowning in Shiro’s scent, in Alpha, in _desire_.

 

It’s terrifying how his blood calls out for Shiro, who is only doing this as a friendly favor.

 

* * *

 

“You ready?” Shiro asks, flesh hand braced on Keith’s sweaty hipbone and eyes laser-sharp on his face. Keith nods tightly, mouth held strained shut over pleas and declarations that have no place here. Shiro’s metal hand trails chillingly along the inside of Keith’s thigh, on the most private untouched skin, and pauses just before it can reach where Keith is pouring out slick.

 

“Let me know if it hurts you, please.” Shiro half demands and half begs. “No brave fronts.”

 

Keith’s ready to agree to anything at this point. Shiro could ask for his first born, and he’d promise up and down if Shiro would just _touch_ him.

 

Finally, with all the firmness of a leaf gently falling from a tree in the wind, Shiro’s finger strokes over where Keith is wet. Shiro slips inside like he was made to be there, Keith unable to hold back the wild shrill keen that explodes from his chest. His back snaps into an arch, the only thing holding him down in place is Shiro’s other hand on his pelvis.

 

It’s barely one finger, just up to the second knuckle, but his body is starving and it’ll take all it can get. He’s desperate for Shiro like a thirsty man in the desert.

 

“Okay?” Shiro asks, gently pushing in further, probing along curiously. Keith wonders absently, somewhere far off behind the heat craze, whether Shiro’s done this before. Has he made love to someone? Did he help some other lucky lonely omega with their heat back on Earth?

 

There’s a small hint of pain when Shiro’s finger pushes in all the way suddenly and pulls harshly at his rim, but it’s soothed immediately by his thumb rubbing circles in the sensitive skin. “Please.” Keith barely whispers, twisting to bury his burning face in the pillow. He needs more, he wants more, and Shiro’s not giving it.

 

“O-okay.” Shiro’s voice shakes just a little bit, barely tangible, but Keith catches it. Lost in the touch-starved heat, Keith reaches out blindly and grips Shiro’s shoulder tightly before moving up. He buries his hand in Shiro’s hair, feeling a slight damp sweat at the base of his skull, possibly from all the heat Keith’s putting out. He swears he hears a tired little moan, like an exhale of relief, but he assumes it came from him.

 

Surely Shiro’s not getting anything out of this.

 

While he’s distracted by the softness of Shiro’s hair and temples, a second finger is pushed in, stretching him further and reaching deeper. He expands beautifully, with little to no pain as his body gladly accepts the intrusion. Heat is for this, omegas are for this. Shiro can’t hurt Keith, they were made to fit perfectly like this.

 

Keith pulls Shiro forward so that he can lay back, exhaustion wracking his limbs as his body tries desperately to hit it’s peak and break this fever (even if it will only be a momentary relief). Shiro hovers over him, braced up on one hand to avoid their bodies from touching, and fingers buried deep inside Keith’s hole.  Keith’s hands shake as Shiro’s fingers start to vibrate inside him, slowly but strongly, robotically strong.

 

He can’t hold in the gasp of surprise when the vibrating doesn’t stop at a low hum, but becomes strong enough that his teeth feel like they might start to chatter. “Oh my, g-“ He chokes on God’s name, pulling Shiro down into his arms and burying his face in the warm crook of his neck. The vibrations are firm against his prostate, sending shivers and shudders of pleasure driving up and down his spine one after another. His stomach feels like it’s pulling into itself, and like Shiro’s arms and breathe on his chest are the only things stopping him from unraveling completely.

 

“Shiro!” Keith whines, when he feels a third finger start to push in, that thumb still rubbing delicately along the skin around his hole soothingly.

 

“You’re okay, baby.” Shiro whispers huskily. “Take it.”

 

Keith bites down hard on Shiro’s shoulder, entirely against the rules, and entirely for the feeling of Shiro’s fingers curling upwards to vibrate straight into that spot that makes him see stars.

 

“Please, Shiro, I-“

 

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” He’s falling apart, he’s going to die. His heart is beating a rapid and uneven dance against his ribcage, so loud Shiro can probably hear it. This isn’t how he remembers heat.

 

It’s similar in the lack of control. He can’t control how much slick is filling his body, or dripping out onto the mattress past Shiro’s fingers (which must be absolutely covered in it by now). He can’t control the urge to bite down and break Shiro’s skin, claim him, own him, possess an Alpha all to himself. He can’t control his mouth, especially.

 

“I love you, I love you, I love you.” Keith whispers brokenly, clawing at Shiro’s back as his head snaps back into the pillows and a long, high-pitched whine announces his orgasm. He comes in waves, long stripes of white covering both he and Shiro’s bellies and seemingly stopping; then another nerve-wracking wave will rush through and he’ll come again, sweating harder with each one. 

 

Finally, when he’s empty, and Shiro’s hand has retreated back to being quiet and still on his pelvis, Shiro pulls away to lay on his back next to Keith. The room has dimmed over the length of time Keith had been in the first wave of heat, and all he can see of Shiro’s face is the contour of his nose and forehead and that starkly white patch of hair. Keith wants to say something, apologize maybe, brush it off. Say it was the heat talking.

 

Excuse himself and run as far away as possible, maybe. This horrifyingly embarrassing slip might even be motivation enough for him to find someway back to Earth.

 

“I love you.” Shiro says, suddenly, and casually. He throws it out like a parent might toss down a reminder about bringing out the trash, or a stranger might comment on the weather. Like it’s a fact, a hard to dispute, reputable fact. One that’s been discussed _before_.

 

Keith is stunned silent, staring at the ceiling, and then at Shiro, and then back at the ceiling for several moments.

 

“What?” He asks dumbly, come going cold on his stomach.

 

“I love you.” Shiro says again, just as casual and matter-of-fact as the first time. He says it like you might say “My eyes are green” or “My name is Keith”. He nods, and Keith is suddenly met with a very intensely loving gaze when Shiro turns onto his side to look at him. “You’re brave, and intelligent, and you don’t trust everyone but you trust _me_.  You’re beautiful, and you’re intuitive, and you are always there when any of us needs you.”

 

Keith starts to shake his head, maybe, because Shiro’s gaze goes hard around the edges. “It’s true! I wouldn’t love you this much, if you didn’t deserve the love. And I’m sorry I took advantage of this, it was selfish of me-“

 

“Advantage? Man, if anyone took advantage of someone here it was me.”

 

“Keith-“

 

“I love you for all the same reasons and more, Shiro. I saved you from the Academy for curiosity, for science, maybe, but I’ll keep saving your ass till we’re old space grandpas because of who _you_ are.” Keith sighs, looking down at the mattress where Shiro’s hand lays closely to his. “I could have done this heat alone, I’ve…had worse experiences than a brutal lonely heat, but you offered- and I – and you…I couldn’t say no.”

 

“I didn’t want you to.”

 

Keith reaches out and entwines their fingers. “Why did you say it was platonic? Why didn’t you just…?” _Say you love me._

“I thought you wanted it that way, I thought platonic was the most I could have.” Shiro’s hand squeezes his. “I was selfish and in love with you, and I wanted anything I could have, even if it was just a week with you.”

 

After a second of deliberation, Keith rolls them suddenly so Shiro’s back flat on the mattress and he’s straddling his hips. Keith strokes idly through the come on Shiro’s chest, sticky and going cold, and the couple of chest hairs on his sternum. He gets to touch now. This is all his, his to claim, his to protect – if he wants it. “How about…more than a week?” Shiro’s eyes light up but Keith pauses him with a stern look, just for a second.

 

“I can’t promise I’ll be a perfect omega – “

 

“I don’t need a perfect omega.”

 

“Or a good boyfriend, or even a friendly person, but I’ll love you.” Keith swears, hand sliding up to cup Shiro’s cheek.

 

“I’ll love you right back.”

 

Then he leans down and presses his mouth to Shiro’s, the kiss he’s been waiting for, the Alpha his body’s been calling out for. It took literally space and time travel to get here, but Keith can’t help but think, it was worth the wait.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, feel free to come chat on tumblr @kiefersutherlnd

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading <3


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